UNIVERSITY MINISTRIES

University Ministries welcomes students of all religious affiliations to participate in a variety of opportunities for spiritual growth, service learning, social action and community building.

Our liturgical life, centered around Sunday Eucharist, invites all members of the Bonaventure community to join in various liturgical ministries and many prayer opportunities.

Our Bona Buddies and Silver Wolves programs, as well as our service learning trips offer creative ways to live and learn with children, elders and cross-cultural communities.

The Warming House, the oldest student-run soup kitchen in the nation, serves a meal six days a week.

SEARCH, SBU for Life and Collegiate Peer Ministry are but a few of the other experiences that round out University Ministries. To learn more, stop at University Ministries, which is temporarily located on the second floor of Murphy Professional Building.

Mt. Irenaeus and Students For The Mountain

Our premier retreat center, Mt. Irenaeus, is located 32 miles from campus and offers peaceful re-creation, prayer and family-style hospitality. Mountain Community Leaders take leadership roles with the friars and other Franciscans in the ministry of the Mountain, which invites all to relax, hike, work in the garden and share warm conversation and home-cooked meals.

Franciscan Center for Social Concern

Interested in peace, social justice and the environment? The Franciscan Center for Social Concern seeks new ideas based on the interests of SBU students. Basic principles known as Catholic Social Teaching support our activities.

News, Publications & Research

SBU students get ready to show off their creative, eco-friendly fashions in Trashion Fashion Show

Mar 28, 2014 |

By Tate M. Slaven, ’14

In preparation for the 2nd Annual Trashion Fashion Show, which will be held at 7 p.m. on Thursday, April3, in the Rigas Family Theater in the Regina A. Quick Center for the Arts, Tread Lightly has hosted biweekly workshops for the past month to help designers with their eco-fashions.

The Trashion Fashion Show is part of the Recyclemania initiative on the St. Bonaventure University campus, and Tread Lightly uses it as a means to demonstrate that there are multiple ways to incorporate recycling into your daily life.

“It’s built as a design competition,” said Sean Conklin, assistant curator at the Quick Center. “Challenging participants to combine high fashion with environmental awareness in an effort to construct works that are both eco-friendly and eco-couture, we really see it as a fun and creative way to live a more sustainable life beyond simply sorting recyclables into buckets or bins.”

There are roughly 15 participants this year, which almost doubles last year’s contributors. All members of the campus community were invited to enter their designs, and various campus clubs and organizations have sponsored designs in efforts to support the recycling initiatives.

Adelaide Hahn, a sophomore sport studies major, is one of the Tread Lightly members who helped with the inaugural event last year. This year Hahn is a featured artist for the show. She will be sporting a Pinterest-inspired dress made out of recycled Pokémon cards.

“I love being part of this event,” Hahn said. “I’m a science major, so I use this as a creative stress release.”

Mandatory workshops included walk-throughs where designers and models could bring their designs for progress checks and to practice the show’s sequence. Participants will be judged and have the opportunity to win titles such as Top Trashionista, Most Creative Use of Recyclables and the People’s Choice.

About the University: The nation’s first Franciscan university, St. Bonaventure University cultivates graduates who are confident and creative communicators, collaborative leaders and team members, and innovative problem solvers who are respectful of themselves, others, and the diverse world around them. We are establishing pathways to internships, graduate schools and careers in the context of our renowned liberal arts tradition. Our students are becoming extraordinary.

We moved — back!

University Ministries has moved into its new home, the newly constructed McGinley-Carney Center for Franciscan Ministry, which is in the same place as its old home, the former Thomas Merton Center, located just north of Reilly Center in the heart of campus. University Ministries offices were temporarily located in the John J. Murphy Professional Building while its former home was razed and the new McGinley-Carney Center was being built.